Over the course of a conversation, Ashlee Collins keeps coming back to a three-bedroom flat in London. The design is stunning, the calendar was wide open this summer, and the luxurious home has air conditioning, which — during a notorious heat wave like this year’s — is as appealing as the stellar architecture.
"Not only is it an amazing home in London with availability, but it has air conditioning, so come stay in this home," Collins said with a laugh during the heat wave.
The president of Onefinestay spent the first part of the year shrinking the brand on purpose. Under a partnership announced in April, management of more than 200 London and Paris homes moved to Veeve, and Onefinestay exited a few metropolitan areas, as Collins put it, while keeping roughly 40 larger homes in neighborhoods like South Kensington and Belgravia. Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution, laid out the strategic logic of the reset recently with Luxury Travel Advisor. Collins runs it day to day.
"We're not a subscription," she said. "We're for anyone who wants to book an amazing stay: highly curated homes that have a sense of place and something that is unique or different or special."
The pivot, she said, came straight from the people booking.
"They do not want quantity, they do not want the masses," Collins added. "They want to know that every home we have is going to be an exceptional stay, and that our staff and our guest experience team is going to hold their hands all along the way."
Standalone, but Not Alone
If you've booked Onefinestay because it sidesteps the membership platform of its sister brands, Exclusive Resorts and Inspirato, Collins wants you to keep doing exactly that. Combined, the trio of brands make up The Exclusive Collective, of which Case is a majority owner.
"Onefinestay as a brand will remain our own separate standalone entity available to public guests for forever," she said.
What changes is behind the curtain. Collins came to the job from Inspirato, where she was chief experience officer, and she sees the Exclusive Collective as a resource pool rather than a merger of identities.
"On the back end, there's just a lot of benefits for leveraging the operations and the technology, etc., that the Collective has together," she said.
New-market Onefinestay launches now arrive with data and on-the-ground experience from the other two brands.
Case made a similar argument to LTA: a platform that can guarantee a consistent standard across thousands of residences, paired with a human being who knows you. Collins draws the same line against the mass-market platforms.
"Those that are playing with the masses don't have a commission structure in place," she said.
Onefinestay pays a standard commission of 10% or more, and this year it is sweetening the pot for preferred consortia, including Virtuoso, Signature Travel Network, Internova, and Luxury Travel Collection. Once your agency books $200,000 in revenue with Onefinestay in 2026, every booking confirmed after that earns 12% for the following 12 months, even if the stay falls in 2027 or beyond.
The partner portal launched late last year was built with the same audience in mind, and the feedback so far centers on one thing.
"The ability to quote out faster is what we keep hearing," Collins said. "We're not just saying they're important to us, we are taking steps to ensure that this is a partnership."
Fewer homes means the availability squeeze you're already feeling in Amalfi, Provence, and the U.S. West doesn't disappear.
"We're not striving for quantity anymore," she said. "We could have hundreds of options and meet everybody's needs, but we really want to focus on that ultra-premium product."
Her answer is a VIP lane: When a new home drops, Onefinestay's team goes to repeat guests and top-producing advisors first, before the listing reaches the general public.
"If you have more flexibility in your calendar, of course, that's the best case," she said, and the destination specialist team exists for the client who calls in with a vibe rather than an address. Agility has always been the job, she argued.
"We've proven that with what we did earlier this year by exiting a number of markets that weren't really serving our business anymore," Collins said. "We have a very brave group of people that are very supportive of making quick changes to the business when we learn what we need to do for our guests."
Reading the Tea Leaves
Yes, the 10-bedroom Onefinestay villa in Casa de Campo is a signal of the brand's new direction.
"We want people to say, 'Wow, that is incredible,' whether it's because it's a mansion on the beach in the Dominican Republic, or because it's just got incredibly unique design in London," Collins said.
Those booking from the revamped Onefinestay portfolio can expect spreads from two bedrooms up to 15, with the sweet spot in the four- and five-bedroom range for multigenerational groups and friend trips.
"You'll see a lot of those types of splashy things, hopefully in the weeks and months to come," she said.
Two of those things are new destinations, promised before the end of the year and still under wraps. Collins is betting the wider rental market has hit peak saturation.
"I think now with extreme saturation, there's a desire for elevation and curation, and I really don't think anyone's nailed that," she said. "We will always have somebody to pick up the phone."
For now, she'll settle for a London flat with air conditioning. It's safe to assume the same for those flocking to book with Onefinestay next summer.
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